Three of the best to take on the Aussies

Three of New Zealand’s best junior harness racing drivers will head to Queensland next month for the Australasian Young Drivers Championship.

Sarah O’Reilly, Zev Meredith and Crystal Hackett will wear the silver fern in the series that will be run in conjunction with the Interdominions at Albion Park.

It will be a first for Zev to drive in Australia.

“It’ll be a bit a fun I guess and something new. I’m picking it’ll be pretty hard core. I don’t watch a lot of Aussie harness racing but when I do they appear to go nuts so it’ll be a good learning curve. You’ve just got to rely on the information the trainers give you about each horse,” Meredith told me.

He’s looking forward to networking and learning more about the way in which Australian races are run, and hopes it will be useful if he’s travelling with horses later in his career.

Meredith has recorded nineteen wins to date this season and he finished second in the NZ Junior Drivers Championship behind O’Reilly.

“The drives are starting to show up again and that’s the big thing. And with Palmy (Palmerston North) starting up again that helps. Palmy’s a wee bit like Aussie in that you have to adjust to the horses you get. It’s a smaller track and you need to be aware of where you need to be at different stages of the race.”

In 2000, Meredith’s boss Arna Donnelly competed in the championship, finishing seventh.

“She’ll be lucky to remember, being that long ago (laughter).”

New Zealand drivers have a proud record in the series with Sarah O’Reilly winning the Championship in 2019, Sheree Tomlinson (2018), Robbie Close (2015), Andre Poutama (2014), Joshua Dickie (2011), Jay Abernethy (2016), Mark Jones (1999) and Lauren Pearson (1998).

O’Reilly says winning the championship in New Zealand was a great experience.

“We started off in Canterbury, went to Palmerston North and then on to Auckland. Driving all the different horses on different tracks has helped me out as a driver because you get into all sorts of different situations.”

This will be Sarah’s third Championship, she finished 5^th last year.

“They drive their horses a bit harder and don’t slow down over there. Our racing is different and a bit more tactical whereas they run their races at a genuine pace.”

O’Reilly is having a stellar season with sixty nine winners including a Group Three Methven Cup with American Me (American Ideal) and a G2 Sapling Stakes with Shards Matrix (Sweet Lou).

Crystal Hackett has been one of the ‘break out’ juniors this season with thirty two wins.

“It’s my best season to date so I can’t complain. Driving confidently always helps.”

She competed in the championships last year in Victoria.

“It was pretty eye opening. Every day we were at a new track. It was a very cool experience driving for lots of different people and making a lot of new friendships. Every driver brings their own style of driving to the series. For Sarah and I who competed last year, the experience will help. We’ve got a day off in the middle of the series this year so we’re doing a few courses with Harness Racing Australia.”

The series of 10 races for drivers under twenty five will be held at both The Creek and The Triangle, starting on Tuesday December 12 before the final heat on Saturday December 16^th.

This year’s lineup is Zev Meredith (New Zealand), Crystal Hackett (North Island-New Zealand), Sarah O’Reilly (South Island-New Zealand), Mitch Ford (Tasmania), Emily Suvaljko (Western Australia), Corey Johnson (South Australia), James Herbertson (Victoria), Angus Garrard and Leonard Cain (Queensland) and Josh Gallagher (New South Wales).

Drivers will accumulate points over a 10-race series, with the driver finishing the series with the most points declared the winner.

This year’s event schedule is:

• Tuesday 12 December – Albion Park – Heats 1, 2 & 3,
• Thursday 14 December – Redcliffe – Heats 4, 5 & 6,
• Friday 15 December – Redcliffe – Heats 7, 8 & 9
• Saturday 16 December – Albion Park – Heat 10

The series will be sponsored by local Queensland business 1EQUINE.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink